Safety shoe guard



Oct. 28, 1952 LA GROTTO 2,615,261

' SAFETY SHOE GUARD Filed May 17, 1952 IN VEN TOR. mzzaiv in 670710,

ATTOFAEK description proceeds.

Patented Oct. 28, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE...

SAFETY snoa GUARD Marion La Grotto, Indianapolis, Ind. Application May 17, 1952. Serial No. 23 ,444 ((31. 36-72)' The present invention relates to a safety shoe guard and particularly to a guard capable of being easily and securely affixed to and removed from a shoe.

' Many occupations, from their very nature, subject the workers to the hazard of many'forrns of foot injury and particularly to injuries'result ing from dropping heavy objects on the feet, or spilling molten metals and the like thereon. To guard against such injuries, it is more orless common practice, where such occupational-hazards exist, to provide the workers with shoes having reinforced toe portions built into the shoes. While such protective shoes satisfactorily serve their intended purpose, they are obviously quite expensive and upon the discarding of the shoes because of wear, the protective devices must be discarded along with the shoes since they are an integral part thereof. I I I The primary object of my invention is to provide a safety guard for'the shoes of such workers which may be readily attached to and removed from their shoes. It therefore becomes unnecessary to provide special protective shoes for such workers, but is only necessary to make such guards available for the attachment by the worker to any type of shoe he might desire to wear.

A further object is to provide such 'ashoe guard which, while it may be readily aflixed to a shoe, will leave no disfiguring marks upon the shoe after it is removed therefrom. I I

Another object is to provide award which, in addition to providing protection for the toe region of the shoe, will also provide protection for the instep portion thereof.

A still further object is to provide a shoe guard having all the above described features but which will, at the same time, be relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture.

Ancillary objects will become apparent as the To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, my invention may be embodied in the forms illustrated in the accompanying drawings, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only, and that change may be made in the specific constructions illustrated and described, so long as the scope of the appended claims is not violated.

Fig. 1 is an upper perspective view of my improved shoe guard, showing the manner in which is intended to be used; Fig. 2 is a lower perspective of Fig. 1; I

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary upper perspective view view of the guard 11 Claims.

' median plane showing'a modified form of a detail of my inven- 'tion;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary lower perspective view of a further modification of the same detail of my invention; and I Fig. 5 is a view similar to that of Fig. 1 showing a modified form of my invention. I

Referringmore particularly to the drawings, I have shown a safety shoe guard referred to generally by the reference numeral l0. Such guard comprises a sheath ll formed, to enshroud the forward portion of a shoe I2. f

Rearwardly of the toe region of sheath H, a pair of notches l4 and I5 open through the lower edge IBof said sheath. 'These notches lie substantially symmetrically on either side of the through said sheath and effectually divide the sheath into a toe cap portion [3 and a metatarsal shroud portion l1. The lower edges of such shroud portion are inturned to provide inwardly extending flanges l8 and I9 and each such flangeis preferably serrated as at 20 and 2| for a purpose later to become apparent.

Preferably, but not necessarily, the lower edge of the toe cap I3 is similarly inturned to provide the shoe toe. Because of the provision of notches l4 and I5, however, that portion of the sheath rearward of such notches is free to be laterally deformed to spread apart the serrated flanges l8 and I9. While so spread, the sheath may prop erly be arranged upon the shoe upper and the sides of the shroud portion be allowed to return to their original position under the inherent resiliency of'the material "from which the sheath is formed. The flange 22 having been entered.

between the shoe upper and the welt 23, and the flanges l8 and i9 positioned so as to likewise en terbetween the upper and welt upon release, the serrations 20 and 21 will grip the'shoe to eifem tively clamp the guard ID in place thereon.

In order that the guard may bereadily aflixed to and removed from the shoe, I provide means whereby the sides of the shroud-portion ll may be easily spread apart; Such means, in the form illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, comprises a pair. of lipped elements 24 each comprising a substantially rectangular flap 25 separated alonglthree edges from the material of sheath H, the fourth edge remaining integral with the sheath mateefiectively protect the shoe of a user at the to'e and across the metatarsal region, it would-be of no protection at all to the instep. To simply ex-' tend the shroud I! rearwardly and'up'tooverlie the instep would give the desired protection but.

it would substantially hinder the bending of the foot while walking. For this reason, I preferto form the shroud I! with ajnarrow, flexible tongue 27 extending rearwardlytherefrom substantially in the median plane of sheath ll. Supported upon the free end of-the-tongue I provide an instep shield 28. Thus the shield '28 is supported for easy flexure relative to the sheath I. As a result of so mounting the shield, a user may walk normally and kneel without serious interfer-, once fromthe instep shield.v I l I An alternative method'of providing the lipped members 24 is shown in Fig. 3. There the guard is provided on each side with an inverted U-shaped-channel member 29 having one leg 30 thereof riveted, or otherwise secured, ,to the shroud portion I! adjacent the lower edge thereof. i l

A still further alternative is shown in Fig. 4 in which the flanges l8 and l9v are greatly extended to form a tab 3|, said tab being folded back upon itself and serrated-along the fold line 32 as at 33. The tab 3| is then turned upwardly (downwardly as viewed inFig l) in the direction of the side of the shroud ll, then outwardly and down (up as viewed in Fig. 4) toform the inwardly'facing surface 26.

- While, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and2, it would be possible to form the entire guard H] of a single piece of material,-to do so would make it impossible to gain. certain advantages which could be had from the use of different materials of varying characteristics for various portions of the guard. For some uses it is desirable,if not essential, that the toe, cap 13 and the instep shield 28 be formed of materials different from the material of the shroud portion, [1. That is,

where greater protection isv necessary for the toe than could be had from a material such as spring, steel, from which the shroud portion I! will pref-.. erably be made,-I prefer to form the toe cap in a separate piece as shown at 34in Fig. 5. This toe cap is of a generally quarter-spherical shape and has a rearwardly extending lip 35. The

shroud 3B is fixed to lip 35 near the median plane of the toe cap 34 as by rivets 31or the like. Thus, while the toe cap can be formed of a tough, rigid, non-yieldable material, the shroud 36 can be made of a flexible material such as spring steel or the like.

The tongue '38, similar to tongue 21, is formed integral with shroud 36; and the instep shield 39 is fixed to said tongue by riveting or the like.

1. has obvious advantages in manufacture over the single piece structure.

I claim as my invention:

1. A detachable safety guard for the forward portion of a shoe upper comprising a sheath formed to enshroud the fore-part of such shoe upper and having a pair of lateral notches opening through the lower edges of said sheath, such notches being substantially symmetrical on opposite sides of the median" plane through said sheath and'spaced rearwardly'from 'the'toe end thereof to effectually divide said sheath into a 'to'ecap portion and a metatarsal shroud portion, the ,lower opposite edges of said shroud portion being provided with inwardly-extending flanges,

said flanges each being serrated and adapted to Thus the shield may be made of a less expensive material than that of shroud 36 without sacri ficing any of its intended functions. Additionally, the fabrication ofthe guardv in this manner be inserted between the upper and the welt to clamp said sheath in place on a shoe, and means whereby'the lower edges of said shroud portion may be spread apart toifpermit the affixing and removal of said sheath from such shoe upper.

2. The device of claim 1 in which said means comprises a pair of lips supported, on opposite sides of said shroud portion near the lower edges thereof, each lip having a surface spaced from and facing said shroud portion behind which the user may, insert the finger tips ofopposite handsto exert apulling force between said lips.

3. The device of claim 1 including an instep shieldand a resilient tonguelying substantially in said median plane and connected at one end of said shroud portion ,and at the other end to said shield. to support said shield for ,flexure relative to said shroud portion.

4. A detachablesafety guard forthe forward portion of a shoe upper. comprising asheath formed to enshroud the .fore-part of such shoe upper and having an inwardly-extending flange about the lower edge thereof for insertion between such shoe upper and the shoe welt, said flange being interrupted by two notches substantially symmetrical on either side of the median plane, through said sheath and extending upwardly into the body of said sheath to effectually divide said sheath into a toe cap portion and a metatarsal shroud portion, the portions of said flange to the rear of said notches being serrated for gripping the shoe when said flange is inserted between sucha shoe upperand welt, an instep shield, a resilient tongue extending rearwardly from said shroud portion substantially in said may be spread apart to permit the afl'ixing and removal of said sheath from such shoe upper.

5. The device of claim 4 in which said means comprises a pair of lipped elements supported on opposite sides of said shroud near the lower edges thereof, each element having a surface spaced from and facing said shroud portion be-. hind which a user may insert his finger tips to exert a pulling force between. said elements.

6. The device of claim5 in which each of said elements comprises a substantially rectangular 'flap cut from the side of said shroud portion about three edges of said flap, the fourth edge remaining integral with said shroud portion along a line substantially parallel to the lower edge thereof, each flap beingturned outwardly from said shroud portion about said line and down to form the said surface facing said shroud portion.

7. The device of claim 5 in which each of said elementscomprises an inverted .U-shaped channel member, one leg thereof being fixed to the side of said shroud near the lower edge thereof and the other leg thereof forming said surface facing said shroud portion.

8. The device of claim 5 in which each of said elements comprises an extension of that portion of the flange to the rear of one of said notches, such extension'being folded back on itself and serrated along the fold line, and further being turned upwardly to lie adjacent the side of said shroud portion, and outwardly and down to form said surface facing said shroud portion.

9. A detachable safety guard for the forward portion of a shoe upper comprising a generally quarter-spherical toe cap, a resilient, generally semi-cylindrical metatarsal shroud fixed to said toe cap near the median plane thereof, said shroud having inturned lower edges forming inwardly-extending flanges, said flanges being serrated and adapted to be inserted between the shoe upper and the shoe welt to removably clamp i said guard on a shoe, said shroud further having a rearwardly-extending, flexible tongue substantially in the median plane thereof and a pair of lipped elements supported on opposite sides of said shroud near the said lower edges, each such element presenting a surface spaced from and facing said shroud whereby a user may insert his finger tips and exert a pulling force between said lower shroud edges, and an instep shield fixed to said flexible tongue for flexure relative 10 to said shroud.

10. The device of claim 9 in which said toe cap is'formed with an inwardly-extending flange about the lower periphery thereof substantially co-planar with said shroud flanges.

11. The device of claim 9 in which said toe cap and said instep shield are each formed of a rigid, relatively non-yieldable material, and said shroud is formed of a resilient material.

' MARION LA GROTTO.

No references cited. 

